Enrollment up as Rio Grande opens Fall

RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College opened the fall semester with its highest enrollment since 2007 with 2,401 students.

The academic year officially opened Monday and as of Thursday, Rio Grande’s enrollment was up more than 2 percent from last fall, with full-time equivalency also up more than 2 percent.

“The return of students each fall injects a revitalizing energy throughout campus,” Rio Grande President Dr. Barbara Gellman-Danley said. “The value of a degree in relation to career earnings is well documented, but the personal growth along the journey is so much more. Monday marked the start of that journey for so many wonderful individuals.”

Rio Grande offers more than 70 academic programs, including certificate programs, associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Custom majors and minors also are available for those students whose needs differ from traditional program offerings.

Financial aid is available in the form of scholarships, grants, loans and work-study. Eligibility for financial aid is determined by the federal government through information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.

Rio Grande is an advocate for Prior Learning Assessment, which allows students to earn college credit for life experience as a more direct route to degree completion.

“Prior learning recognizes life experience through the development of measurable portfolios, which document what an individual learned through work, the military and other types of training and overall experience,” Dr. Gellman-Danley said. “It is by no means giving away easy credit; if done well, it is an arduous but outstanding way of receiving credit without taking courses that are likely to be redundant to a learner’s individual knowledge base.”

Rio Grande also experienced a growth of more than 5 percent in on-campus living with 347 residential students this fall.

“Rio offers a wealth of campus life with more than 140 activities and organizations for students to actively engage,” Dean of Students Aaron Quinn said. “Living on campus is the best way to take advantage of the entire Rio experience.”